AIC comes to campus in June

AIC will move from its current site at the University of Arizona Science and Technology Park, 13 miles from the UA, into prefabricated houses that will stand the northeast corner of Cherry Avenue and Speedway Boulevard.

"We'll operate from that location for three to five years while enrollment is growing and then move to a permanent location," said AIC Provost Celestino Fern‡ndez.

When the campus gains independence and moves to a permanent location, the UA can keep the buildings, said David Gnage, AIC's senior finance and administration officer.

The new buildings will take up an estimated 100 spots from a Zone One parking lot at the site, said Marlis Davis, director of UA Parking and Transportation Services.

But students holding permits won't feel the loss, she said.

"To be honest, that lot is always underutilized," Davis said. "There's been 75 spaces open on a daily basis so what's being taken won't really displace anyone."

Administrators said AIC's move will cut campus costs and give its students needed resources.

"It was clear that we were not going to receive the dollars we needed to develop our current site," Gnage said. "By co-locating, our students can use the UA's library, available classrooms and dormitories."

AIC will need to build offices, computer labs and study lounges for its administrators and students at a price just less than $1 million, Gnage said.

The campus, which will change its name to Arizona International College, will also borrow underutilized classrooms in the nearby Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, Nursing and Pharmacy buildings.

The new buildings will provide about 10,000 square feet less room than the campus' current site, and the move will cut leasing costs from $540,000 per year to about $170,000, Fern‡ndez said.

AIC students will also have precedence to live in Babcock Inn, the residence hall nearest the new campus, he said.

They will pay the same rates as other UA students, Fern‡ndez added.

Besides the new buildings, AIC will also take over some unused UA-owned houses, Fern‡ndez said.

Groundbreaking for the buildings is set for April 15 at 1:30 p.m.

Once construction is complete, some of the lost parking spaces will be regained when the lot is re-striped, Davis said.

Two other parking lots on Helen Street will also be expanded to yield about 80 Zone One spaces, Davis said.

"In the end, it'll be a wash," she said.